Arts & Ideas

Ground-breaking history books


Listen Later

The Cundill Prize and PEN Hessell-Tiltman prizes for non-fiction writing about history are announced in early December. Rana Mitter talks to Cundill judge Henrietta Harrison about why their choice this year was Blood On The River by Marjoleine Kars. And with the news tonight that Rebecca Wragg Sykes book Neanderthals has won the PEN Hessell Tiltman - we revisit the conversation Rana recorded when the book came out bringing together Priya Atwal, Joseph Henrich and Rebecca Wragg Sykes in a conversation about family ties and power networks which ranges across Sikh queens, through the ties of marriage and religion which helped shape the Western world, back to the links between Neanderthals and early man.

Priya Atwal has published Royal and Rebels: The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire. Dr Atwal is a Teaching Fellow in Modern South Asian History at King's College London.

Joseph Henrich is a Professor in the department of Human and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and the author of The Weirdest People in the World: How the West became psychologically peculiar and particularly prosperous.
Rebecca Wragg Sykes is an Honorary Fellow at University of Liverpool and Université de Bordeaux. She is the author of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art and is one of the founders of https://trowelblazers.com/
Marjoleine Kars has won the 2021 Cundill Prize for her book Blood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast

You might be interested in other Free Thinking conversations with Rutger Bregman author of Human Kind https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08d77hx

Penny Spikins speaking about Neanderthal history at the 2019 Free Thinking Festival https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003zp2
Tom Holland on his history of the impact of Christianity on Western thinking in a programme called East Meets West https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00093d1
The 2020 Cundill prize winner Camilla Townsend discussing Times of Change with Tom Holland, Emma Griffin and Jared Diamond https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000py89

Producer: Robyn Read

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Arts & IdeasBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3

4.3

286 ratings


More shows like Arts & Ideas

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,770 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

303 Listeners

The Archers by BBC Radio 4

The Archers

1,098 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,068 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,465 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,826 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

612 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,811 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,049 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

2,073 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

481 Listeners

Backlisted by Backlisted

Backlisted

595 Listeners

London Review Bookshop Podcast by London Review Bookshop

London Review Bookshop Podcast

138 Listeners

Front Row by BBC Radio 4

Front Row

126 Listeners

Start the Week by BBC Radio 4

Start the Week

161 Listeners

Bookclub by BBC Radio 4

Bookclub

246 Listeners

The TLS Podcast by The TLS

The TLS Podcast

184 Listeners

The Week in Art by The Art Newspaper

The Week in Art

214 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,224 Listeners

The Bomb by BBC World Service

The Bomb

1,044 Listeners

A brush with... by The Art Newspaper

A brush with...

145 Listeners

This Cultural Life by BBC Radio 4

This Cultural Life

108 Listeners

Close Readings by London Review of Books

Close Readings

84 Listeners

Past Present Future by David Runciman

Past Present Future

338 Listeners